Encouraging young women to contemplate high-tech careers is a continuing challenge for educators and industry recruiters, but dozens of Calgary students were able to take a first-hand look at a possible future in IT last week.
The young teens, from St. Charles, St. Helena and Clarence Sansom junior high schools, spent a day designing web pages at IBM’s new offices at 227 11th Ave. S.W.
“One of the girls commented that she was expecting to see rows and rows of cubicles with people sitting in them,” says Cheryl Bermack, territory manager for IBM’s energy sector.
“But that’s not at all what this building is all about – it’s about teamwork and people in communications. I think that was new insight for them.”
IBM’s Women in Technology program has been operating through the Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation for two years.
A Canadian initiative launched in Toronto in 1998, WIT has expanded its reach into other Canadian cities, as well as throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
Jerilynn Daniels, program director with the foundation, says a “technology gender gap” has been created due to fewer women enrolling in computer science programs.
“Overall, there’s been a decrease in the number of females that are choosing math and sciences and careers in technology,” she says. “And by targeting them at the junior high level, we feel there’s an increased chance of exposing them to what the possibilities are.
“Some of the responses we’re getting from these girls is that (technology careers) are just for boys, or it’s boring.”
IBM has more than 1,100 employees in Calgary and about 700 in Edmonton, where the WIT program is also offered.
“I think this program is a great representation of how corporations and schools can work together,” Daniels adds. “IBM is committed to giving back to the community, and this is one way they can do that with expertise they have.”
During the workshop, the 79 girls – who were selected by their teachers to participate in the program – broke into small group sessions with 20 female volunteer IBM employees. “There was a lot of energy,” Daniels says with a laugh. “The teachers have been telling me that all the boys in those schools were a bit miffed they didn’t get to come.
“I think this program is a great representation of how corporations and schools can work together.”
WIT was first introduced in Alberta four years ago in Edmonton by IBM general manager Bernie Kollman. About 25 volunteers participate in the Edmonton workshops, which include two one-day sessions for more than 120 students from eight schools in November.
Kollman also chairs the Women in Technology program through the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), which offers an annual workshop for up to 300 female students.
Bermack says another reason IBM has embraced the notion of encouraging girls to consider IT careers is to increase the talent pool from which the company can draw as they recruit new workers.
